End-season sales cheer retailers

Kishore Biyani's department store chain, Central, has recorded 35 per cent growth in its discounted sale so far. It expects to close the end-season period with 20 per cent more.

'We are content'

"We are content with 20 per cent like-to-like (stores operating for the same period) growth. If customers overbuy during the sale period, it will take time for normal sales to pick up,” said Rajesh Seth, vice-president. "Our entire focus is how to do better business in the summer.”

Jaydeep Shetty, chief executive of apparel chain Mineral, said it had seen a like-to-like growth of a little over 50 per cent and was expecting to touch an 80 per cent increase in the coming days. "We are doing pretty well,” he said.

People love sales but the end-season ones do not do well only because of the discount tag. "People prefer making smart investments and, therefore, we have a lucrative offer on our new arrivals as well,” says Ashni Biyani, managing director, Holii, a premium handbag and accessories brand from the Future group. The footfall in its store has risen 25 per cent and sales growth by 33 per cent.

Mall developers are also rejoicing. "We are getting fantastic response. There's a year-on-year growth of 20 per cent in our malls in Mumbai and Pune, in line with last year's numbers,” said Rajendra Kalkar, senior director, west, at Phoenix Mills, a Mumbai-based developer.

Anupam T, chief executive, malls, at the Mumbai-based Runwal group, says car traffic has gone up 15 per cent across the group's malls in the city. Its R City mall is holding a flat 50 per cent sale in all 100 brands on the Friday.

Sonali Manilal, senior marketing manager from DLF Promenade, a prominent Delhi-based mall, says brands are happy with the sales and footfalls. "Weekends at DLF Promenade are completely packed in both stores and restaurants,” he said.

Brands such as Marks & Spencer, Forever 21, Hamleys, Vero Moda, Only and Jack & Jones were performing very well, said Benu Sehgal, vice-president, mall management and utilities, at Delhi's DLF Place, Saket.

Retailers advanced their end-season discounts by a week to 10 days this time, due to poor festive sales last year. "Every year, retailers are advancing the sale by 10 to 15 days. It shows their desperation due to poor sales,” says Susil Dungarwal, founder at mall management firm Beyond Squarefeet.

Mineral's Shetty believes brands on discounted sales through the year have not seen a good response during the current sale period.